-Caveat Lector- Mubarak Gears up Armed Forces ***************************** DEBKAfile's military sources report that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has revamped the ground plan for the coming Third Army summer maneuvers scheduled for the first week of September, after making over the top level of his armed forces last month. Both steps were taken to gear up preparations in case of a regional flare up. Mubarak has abandoned hope of restraining Yasser Arafat's headlong escalation of violence against Israel ' and is preparing for any eventuality. One that the Egyptian president and his strategic advisers are taking into account is that, at some point in a general conflagration, Israeli may launch an air attack on Palestinian locations in Sinai, or even the tunnels leading from the west bank of the Suez Canal to the Sinai side. Israel has repeatedly complained to Egypt about the Palestinians' use of the North Sinai towns of El Arish and Egyptian Rafah as rear bases for the stocking of reserve weapons and fighting strength outside Israel's reach. The appointment of Maj.-Gen Sami Hafez Ahmed Anan, an anti-air missile systems expert, as new air force commander, ties in with this forecast. So too does the altered blueprint for Egyptian summer maneuvers next month. The Egyptian Third Army was to have spread out along the west bank of the Suez Canal and stopped at the entrances to the eight tunnels. US and Israeli military experts now believe that a small part of the Third Army will actually go into the tunnels and cross to the other side, simulating a military deployment in Sinai that will be executed if Israel decides to bombard the Palestinian rear bases in Sinai. Such a crossing would add to regional volatility since it is in direct contravention of the peace accords Egypt signed with Israel and the US nearly two decades ago. Anan replaces Lt.-Gen.Mohammed Shahat who was dismissed without explanation a month ago and re-assigned to a senior post in Luxor. He is one of a group of dismissed top officers given appointments far from Cairo, including the head of the northern command, who had jurisdiction over an area covering the Nile Delta, Alexandria and Mansour. DEBKAfile reports from diplomatic sources in Cairo that Mubarak is urging Egypt's munitions industry to speed up its production of surface missiles and bring forward to September 2001 the missile series due for completion next April. He has also released funds to advance the construction of the new medium range surface missile production line, modeled on the North Korean No-Dong model. North Korean engineers and experts are helping the work along at the plant near Alexandria. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
